Hi All,
Im looking into buying some Pleiospilos nelii "royal flush'' but since they aren't so readily available here in the uk (thus making them quite expensive), I had a few questions before I make the plunge and buy them.
I recently bought Pleiospilos nelii (not the purple kind) and despite giving it little to no water and potting it into mainly sandy, perlitey soil, it ended up rotting and subsequently dying. I have read and heard that the ''royal flush'' kind is much more temperamental then the normal type and doesn't live for too long anyway because of mutation that makes it purple. Can anyone give me advice as to whether or not to buy the royal flush kind- is it too temperamental, and even if I do everything right will it just die on me anyway?
I guess a starting point could be to try to work out why your previous plant died?
If you have no idea what you did wrong, the chances of you repeating the mistake seem high.
I bought one 18 months ago from a big box seller. It had flowered . The flower died and it did nothing. 3 months ago it suddenly opened up and pushed up new leaves. The outer ones started to shrivel up and then it stopped again. Two days ago it just opened up again and new growth is pushing up. The outer leaves have not shriveled up anymore. It's in regular cactus mix. I water it when the soil is dry and it sits under my T-plant bulbs that are on for 12 hours a day.
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My other Pleiospilos
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theclosetguy wrote: ↑Mon Jun 15, 2020 11:25 pm
I bought one 18 months ago from a big box seller. It had flowered . The flower died and it did nothing. 3 months ago it suddenly opened up and pushed up new leaves. The outer ones started to shrivel up and then it stopped again. Two days ago it just opened up again and new growth is pushing up. The outer leaves have not shriveled up anymore. It's in regular cactus mix. I water it when the soil is dry and it sits under my T-plant bulbs that are on for 12 hours a day.
IMG_20200615_161837.jpg
IMG_20200615_161843.jpg
My other Pleiospilos
IMG_20200615_161854.jpg
IMG_20200615_161901.jpg
My apologies I have only just gotten round to seeing your reply, thanks for all the helpful info. When you say you only water when the soil is dry, how often is this? I've heard some people say they only water 3/4 times a year.
Here is an update 3 weeks later. Pictures are from this morning
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I have been watering both once a week. The Pleiospilos has been "eating itself" the oldest set of leaves has shrunk completely and the newest have grown larger. On the other hand the Royal flush stopped eating itself and as you can see a new set of leaves has begun to sprout.
As a observation. When I see the royal flush's at nurseries I notice that the older ones can get large and have a lot of leaves.
Those are really beautiful! I'm surprised you water them weekly as so much info online says to water them as little as possible. I think i'm going to water mine more frequently too- perhaps that's where I went wrong last time. I'm glad to see that you can buy them from a nursery and have them live so long, I always assumed the royal flush didn't live too long because of the mutation, you must really look after them well!
